<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>nabiki beach by bokutoma</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25660993">nabiki beach</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/bokutoma/pseuds/bokutoma'>bokutoma</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Pokemon Fusion, Alternate Universe - Pokemon Ranger Fusion, Childhood, Childhood Friends, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Promises, i will never shut up about it, yes THE promise</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 03:08:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>981</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25660993</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/bokutoma/pseuds/bokutoma</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>a different promise; it means the same thing</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Sylvain Jose Gautier</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>nabiki beach</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>sorry for being like this &lt;3 no i'm not</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>There’s an old legend about this beach. If you meet here, you’re destined to become close...</em>
</p><p>
  <em>- Excerpt from Vientown: A Travel Guide</em>
</p><hr/><p>For as long as he can remember, Felix’s father has told him the story of how he and Sylvain Jose Gautier met on the shores of Nabiki Beach.</p><p>“That’s a good sign, you know,” he says every time, grinning proudly. “They say you become lifelong friends with someone if you meet them there.”</p><p>Even at the tender age of nine, Felix isn’t so sure you can bend fate to your will like that. Besides, he’s been hearing the story so long, it’s lost all sense of reality.</p><p>“I mean, it's not like there's any way I'd remember where we met," he grumbles, heedless of the way his friend - because regardless of the tale their parents like to spin, they <em>are</em> friends - suppresses laughter. "I was <em>two</em>."</p><p>"Do you want to hear the real story?" Sylvain asks, eyes sparkling with the sort of sly mischief Felix has found impossible to resist since day one. He can believe in those stories; they hold true even today. "I do remember a little, you know."</p><p>And yes, Felix probably shouldn't trust his account either, considering Sylvain was only four, but fantasy still comes easily to him, and Sylvain has never lied to him. At eleven, he looks closer in appearance to his father than ever before, but where the senior Gautier is all hard lines, built like the chiseled bluffs that line Union Road, his son is warm, warm, warm. The beach suits him, Felix thinks, and then he's embarrassed, though he's not sure why.</p><p>"Tell me," he says, voice rich with an intensity that might read like anger to anyone who didn't know him so well. His face feels warm, and for the first time - but not the last - he hopes that's just a burgeoning sunburn.</p><p>Sylvain nods, kicking his feet off the edge of the short cliff they've chosen to sit on, looking out at this now infamous stretch of sparkling sand. "They meant for us to meet down there, you know," he explains, gesturing at the shell-lined cove just visible from their perch. "It was low tide season, and they thought it would be a good omen for future dealings, I guess. Whatever. Our families are weird."</p><p>That is the understatement of the century. "So where <em>did</em> we meet? You take too long when you tell stories."</p><p>"It was right here," he says, gesturing to the grassy expanse behind them, the one that led to the well-traveled path to Vientown proper. "We were running a bit behind, but my parents thought you guys would be on the beach already. Turns out you were throwing a tantrum, so you hadn't quite made it down yet, so that was my first impression of you: a squalling baby."</p><p>"Hey!" Now Felix knows it's impossible to deny that the flush overtaking him comes from emotion, but this, at least, is familiar.</p><p>"I know better <em>now</em>," Sylvain amends, and it should probably be a little shameful how quickly Felix's mood picks back up, but for now, he remains blissfully unaware.</p><p>Something is still wrong, though. "Then how do we know we're gonna be friends forever?" he asks, quiet in the way that everyone who knows him understands as a precursor to tears. "If we don't have the beach?"</p><p>At that, Sylvain goes quiet too, but when it's him, it's maturity that shines back out to the world, like if Felix were to squint hard enough, he could see the man his best friend would become.</p><p>He hops off the cliff suddenly, and Felix hasn't even managed a deeply undignified squawk of surprise before he's landed, one knee in the sand like the heroes of his Saturday morning cartoons. "What are you doing?"</p><p>"Making sure we stay best friends forever, duh. Now jump!"</p><p>But as much as Felix implicitly trusts him, he still balks at the idea. <em>If Sylvain jumped off a cliff, would you?</em> It's another one of his father's favorite sayings, and the fact that he's even considering <em>yes</em> should be more concerning than it is.</p><p>"If you look like you aren't gonna land right, I'll catch you." Sylvain looks impatient, though his voice is as kind as ever, and it's this more than anything that persuades him.</p><p>He doesn't want to be left behind.</p><p>"Count of three?" he asks, and he knows that makes him a baby, but there's something about Sylvain's voice that makes him feel better, almost like Glenn's, but just for him.</p><p>And even though he shouldn't need it, Sylvain counts off for him anyway. For a moment, he is suspended in a terrible, exhilarating freefall, and then he's hitting sand in a way that would have resulted in at least one twisted ankle were it not for the arms around him, steady, sweaty, and unmistakably Sylvain.</p><p>"Nice jump," he says, but even when he lets go, Felix still feels like he's falling. "Now then..."</p><p>In an instant, all the familiar warmth is gone from his face, and he looks just as serious as he does in all his family pictures.</p><p>"I'm Sylvain. It's nice to meet you."</p><p>"What?"</p><p>Sylvain sticks out a hand, and for a moment, a grin flickers at the corners of his mouth in just the same manner as it always has when he's with Felix. "It's nice to meet you," he repeats. "You know, there's a funny legend about this beach. Whenever two people meet here, it's said they'll be close for the rest of their lives."</p><p>And even if he's a bit slow, Felix gets the game now, and he shakes Sylvain's proffered hand vigorously, spine ramrod straight. "I'm Felix. It's good to meet you."</p><p>Even if no one believes them, it's not so bad to pretend they have Nabiki Beach on their side.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>twitter @kingblaiddyd</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>